Riverside and Brookfield Police Chiefs: Preschool Cuts Future Violent Crime
Contact: Sally Puleo (630) 677-8673
FOR RELEASE: October 20, 2010
BROOKFIELD, IL – Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel and Brookfield Police Chief Steven Stelter visited a preschool class in Brookfield today to call on the General Assembly to continue to maintain funding for the state’s Preschool for All program in suburban Cook County. The law enforcement pointed to evidence that preschool cuts future violent crime and saves money.
Weitzel and Stelter joined State Representative Michael Zalewski to read to preschoolers at a Lincoln School preschool classroom in Brookfield.
“I believe in taking criminals off the streets. But it simply makes sense to do everything possible to prevent crime from happening in the first place,” said Weitzel. “Fortunately, we know that preschool does just that. The research shows it helps kids start off on the right track in life and helps them stay out of trouble later on.”
Over the past eight years, Illinois has made great strides in expanding preschool opportunities for families. With recent expansion of the Preschool for All Program, suburban Cook County has added over 7,800 slots for 3-and 4-year olds, increasing the number of children enrolled in state-funded preschool to 13,914.
Still, there are far too many families unable to access high quality programs because of cost. In suburban Cook County, there remain over 25,000 3- and 4-year-olds in families who cannot afford to pay for quality preschool on their own.
“Crime is expensive and impacts all individuals, so preventing crime helps everyone save money,” said Stelter. “Preschool is an excellent place to educate our children in knowing right from wrong and we must do everything we can to protect them.”
Law enforcement’s experience and rigorous research supports the value of pre-kindergarten. A study of the Perry Preschool in Michigan tracked at-risk children who attended the program and similar children left out until age 40. At age 27, those left out as children were five times more likely to have been arrested for drug felonies and twice as likely to have been arrested for violent crimes. Another study of the publicly funded Child-Parent Centers in Chicago, which have provided early care and education to more than 100,000 children since 1967, found that kids left out of the program were 70 percent more likely to have been arrested by age 18 than those who participated.
“Early childhood is a crucial time when we form the core of conscience, develop the ability to trust and relate to others, and lay down the foundation for life-long learning and thinking. The evidence tells us that preschool has a real and significant impact on cutting crime,” said FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS ILLINOIS State Director Tim Carpenter.
FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS ILLINOIS is the state office of a national, non-profit bipartisan, anti-crime organization of more than 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, leaders of law enforcement organizations, and victims of violence. It has over 300 members in Illinois.
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